1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to oil film bearings for rotatably supporting the necks of horizontal rolls in a rolling mill, and is concerned in particular with an improved seal end plate for use as an integral component of the seal assemblies of such bearings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical seal assemblies are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,090 (Simmons et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,856 (Salter, Jr. et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,053 (Innis Jr. et al.).
In these seal assemblies, a flexible neck seal is received on and rotates with the roll neck. A seal end plate surrounds and is fixed relative to the neck seal. Resilient inboard and outboard flanges project radially outwardly from the neck seal to straddle a radially inwardly projecting rigid flange on the seal end plate. The outboard seal flange coacts in sealing contact with an outboard shoulder of the seal end plate to retain oil in the bearing, and the inboard seal flange coacts in sealing contact with an inboard shoulder of the seal end plate to prevent cooling water from penetrating into the bearing.
As the neck seal flanges begin to wear due to prolonged usage, oil may eventually succeed in penetrating beneath the outboard neck seal flange. The oil then will be dragged around the seal end plate by the rotating neck seal, and may eventually escape past the seal end plate flange and leak from the bearing.
The present invention prevents the above described leakage from occurring by providing the seal end plate with strategically positioned wells that trap any oil penetrating beneath the outboard neck seal flange. Drain passageways return the thus trapped oil from the wells back to the bearing sump for recirculation in the lubrication system of the mill.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: